


The romantic story about lev and Abby

by Ashleytulip53



Category: The Last of Us (Video Games)
Genre: F/M, First Dates, Fluff and Smut, Gen, Kissing, Maybe Pregnancy, Oral Sex, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-24
Updated: 2020-10-24
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:41:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 17,193
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27181954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ashleytulip53/pseuds/Ashleytulip53
Summary: So this is story about Abby and lev getting closer and starting a new life after leaving Santa Barbara
Relationships: Abby & Lev (The Last of Us), Abby/Lev (The Last of Us), Lev & Yara (The Last of Us)
Kudos: 4





	The romantic story about lev and Abby

**Author's Note:**

> Hello last of us fan im new and this is a new chapter but this chapter is NOT my is somebody else but im using it so i created a story but the chapters is my so enjoy

Abby and Lev - a very modern romance

Abby (Alpha) Anderson

Abby has only just begun her morning reps. It's such a luxury in this world, in this life. Something that she looks forward to, every morning and every evening as much as she is home, that is. She rolls out of bed, takes a piss, has a couple of glasses of water, makes her bed, has a stretch while looking out of the floor to ceiling window that runs the length of the room she shares with Manny. The sun is only just beginning to crack the skyline and Abby pulls up a chair and begins her routine.

Her arms are massive, no one mentions it but she sees the various responses in their eyes, wherever she goes, friends and strangers alike. Gender aside - everyone is impressed with Abby's guns and whilst many can not contain their obvious desire there are a few that cannot get past the slight gender bending twist. It's nothing really, a chick who works out and has great guns, massive guns, hotasfuck guns. No biggie, right? True for most of us but for those select few, they just can't get past it; they assume Abby is a guy. Or wants to be a guy, or is transgendered, or a lesbian.

Actually, no. None of the above, she is just a woman who likes to lift weights. She likes the routine, she likes zoning out (it's a bit like meditation), she likes having huge, sexy arms and she likes being strong out in the field. She turns heads and she likes it, everyone knows and likes Abby and she likes that, she is easily a top ten field agent of the Washington Liberation Front and she likes that too. Everyone knows where she is and where she has been, she never has to say it, when she is coming or going people call out, "take it easy out there, Abby," and "glad to see you're back safely, Abby."

Strong, independent, autonomous, reliable, fit and strong, oh yeah, said that already. Abby gets to pick her jobs and her teams, people like to work with her because she is always in the know. She is the solutions person, constantly creating opportunities in the field to get herself and her team out of the shit. And bringing down the enemy; she is ruthless and gets results. Be it the infected, the Seraphites or Joel fucking Miller. When Abby found a lead on Joel's brother Tommy over in Jackson there were no shortage of volunteers for the mission, for Abby's mission. Abby wants to avenge the murder of her father.

Lev (Beta)

Lev could feel the resistance building. He took a long deep breath and let it out in a slow even stream until his lungs were empty, he kept them empty as long as he could and then started over. He was meditating on his knees, alone, an hour before dawn, trying to keep alive the traditions of his religion and trying to keep close to the teachings of the prophet.

It just wasn't coming today, he was distracted by strong emotion, unusual for Lev. He was normally calm, serene even, despite all. He kept his position, persisted in his regulated breathing pattern and let his mind wander. His life had been simple; first follow the word of the Prophet and attend to the daily rituals, second to obey his mother and complete the family chores. His sister Yarra had been selected to train as a soldier and Lev pestered her to show him everything she had learned because he had wanted to be a soldier too.

He was very close to Yarra, she was the only one with whom he shared his feelings about not wanting to be female. She schooled him to conceal his feelings only for his own safety, Leadership would not understand or appreciate his deviance but she loved and accepted him without waver. It was easier when Lev was prepubescent, it was more like a game between them, Yarra would refer to Lev as male when they were alone. But as puberty hit, changes to Lev's body the urge became stronger, he tried to temper it through internal discipline and the words of the Prophet but she never spoke on the matter directly. Her words were mostly about love but her message had been contaminated by the will of the Leadership group overtime and now the message was mostly about obedience.

Lev was a devoted follower of the word of the Prophet, young though he was he had sought out her original writings, or early copies of the original. Most of these now were withheld by Leadership under the guise of preservation but really they wanted to manipulate the message, withhold the true word from the people and reinforce their own version. Lev knew more of the original text than most people and that was how he understood the difference between what had been said initially and what was now being promoted.

Lev was in fear about the changes to his body, the emerging breasts, the menstruating, it was hideous and he hated it but he had hoped to be a soldier which would give him the resources he needed to manage his body. When Leadership denied his request and instead announced that he would be offered as a wife to one of the Elders the decision for Lev was simple, he shaved his head and moved forward as a male, determined to be a soldier. Lev's defiance was met swiftly and harshly, he was deemed an apostate with orders to kill on sight. Again Lev's decision was simple, flee.

He went underground and made his way out of the village and off the island, thanks to all the training Yarra had secretly provided. On the mainland Lev was unsure what to do exactly, well the priorities were glaringly obvious - don't get shot by Wolves, don't get killed or turned by demons, find shelter and food. Having so far met these priorities, Lev was still unsure what to do, he was used to communal living not solitary survival. Lucky for Lev Yarra understood that, she abandoned their mother, defected from her community and tracked down Lev to be by his side, earning herself the title apostate and a death sentence.

Past

Abby presented as an alpha shortly after her father was murdered, she was fifteen. It was hell, and not just for Abby. No one anticipated her to be an alpha, most assumed, including Abby that she would be an omega, and her first rut was hell. Abby was in shock, it was a physically painful experience and emotionally traumatic, something she never expected to go through without her father. Abby's long time best friend and boyfriend, Owen, really loved Abby and was there for her from the moment she burst into the room and saw her father's dead body on the hospital floor with a shiv sticking out of his chest. He tried desperately to be there for her in the following months, in her all consuming grief. He prepared her food, reminded her to drink, sleep with her - platonically, for her sake, to help her sleep and comfort her in her nightmares.

Abby had been quite clear about her sexual boundaries, she was not ready and would not be ready in the near future. Owen accepted that but he was always hopeful and when Abby began her rut he was sure this would be his chance, finally. He was disappointed that she presented as alpha, he would have liked to have been the dominant one of the pair but he would make the best of it, he offered to help her through her rut and was taken completely by surprise when she made it abundantly clear that she would not be mating with anyone, not even him. She made him promise to respect her wishes, that no matter how much she begged and pleaded that he would stand firm and that he would make sure others did as well. He promised reluctantly.

That wasn't quite enough for Abby, she called their group together and with sweat pouring down her face, grimacing in pain she made them all swear that they would abide by her wishes to remain unmated, that they would protect and defend her during the period she would be unable to do so herself. This was a very unusual request. Normally the person coming into heat or rut was looking forward to getting laid, especially an alpha, especially an alpha with a boyfriend, a hot boyfriend who loved her! She practically begged them and in her distress they swore to protect and defend her from herself, their group and any others who sought such contact.

They isolated Abby from themselves and themselves from her in a large space with bedroom and bathroom facilities, they left food and barricaded her in. They had to work fast, her pheromones were pumping out thick and fast, she hadn't yet learned to control them, she was signalling for a mating partner and it was affecting them all, and anyone else who happened to catch a whiff. They cleared the area, and stood sentry and quite a distance to avoid being saturated by her pheromones. Once her heat was in full swing she would forget her oath, forget theirs too and beg them to mate with her, she would mate with any and all of them, being an alpha. She felt generally unwell, like a bad flu, like a horny bad flu, she had an erection that needed frequent attention but it never provided any relief. Her body ached, she had an ache deep in her gut, her cock ached.

They had to listen to her crying, screaming, begging, raging. It was hardest on Owen of course who had the dual pulls, one because he loved her and hated to hear her in pain and distress and two because he wanted to mate her. He secretly thought he had paid his dues and was humiliated that she made him swear in front of everybody not to mate her, he was her boyfriend damn it. More than once he was dragged back physically from trying to approach her, finally he was restrained for his own, and her own good. They understood he was not fully in control of himself and the group were trying to avoid harming him further. Luckily for all, the end of the third day of her full rut period was quieter and by the fourth morning she was done, they unbarricaded her room, which was trashed from one end to the other, she was freshly washed, dressed and looking better than they had seen her in a week.

Abby worked through her rut largely on her own. She had not been ready for the sexual part of her relationship with Owen, a beta, not even close, not at any time, and not even during her rut. Well in her rut mind she would have mated them all, him included, but in her sane mind, not even in her rut! That should have sent signals to both of them but neither of them was willing to see it for what it was, Abby was just not that into him. Oh she loved him, no doubt, just not like that. And he loved her, just like that. He tried to be ok with it, tried to be supportive but he did fuck around sometimes, just a little bit. What's a guy supposed to do? Abby secretly thought she had no sex drive, or was asexual or perhaps that part of her body didn't work? If anyone else had suggested that, including Owen, she would have pounded them into the ground, but she did think those thoughts, when she allowed herself to think about it at all. She masturbated frequently and got herself through subsequent ruts just fine but still secretly concluded that she was broken, there was definitely something wrong.

Then the fireflies fell apart. Largely in response to the absolute carnage Joel Miller wreaked on them and on the hospital that day; he absolutely devastated their security and armed forces, depleted their supplies and resources, as well as annihilated their leadership and their medical team. Those that survived tried to carry on but many lost hope, quite a few just disappeared, Owen and Abby and their posse tried to make it on their own for a while but eventually ended up at the WLF. Abby embraced the opportunity and Owen resisted it, just another little crack in an otherwise perfectly imperfect relationship.

"Whoo," lift and controlled release, "Whoo," lift and controlled release. Hundreds of them every morning while Abby watched the sunrise, pumped her weights and alternately indulged in her many and varied thoughts or blocked them out, depending on the day and the thoughts. When she was away from home, she would lift whatever was on hand, bricks, containers, the rear ends of vehicles, no bullshit. When they were on jobs Abby could lift the heaviest burdens, clearing exits, carrying the wounded, giving huge men boosts up through windows. She could also lift, drag and pull more than her own body through the most difficult spaces, going ahead of the team to turn back and open doors for them.

All of that is incredibly handy but Abby's strength is most valuable in hand to hand combat, she can hit with such force, hand or weapon, easily cracking skulls more often crushing them. She is well known for her economic stealthy chokeholds, which cost nothing in terms of resources (bullets) or attracting further opponents. Yes, everybody wants to be on Abby's team, who wouldn't? And Abby loves being in this position, to be fair she worked enormously hard to add so much value as an individual and as a team member but that's not her motivation. Not exactly.

Abby was bent on revenge. All consuming, rage fueling revenge. In the days following the devastation of the fireflies, those remaining tried to figure just what had occurred. On the one hand it was clear that Joel Miller had shot the place up to get back the immune girl, on the other it was almost impossible to believe that one person could do some much damage. Even if one were to believe it, it was still unbelievable. Abby spoke to everyone she could, built an inventory of evidence, so to speak, developed a crime scene analysis. Over time she was able to work out who Joel was, where he had come from, why he did it and she began tracking down the leads. Abby was going to find this fucker and make him pay.

Unlike Abby, Lev and Yarra had no such motivation, they had nowhere to go and nothing to do except stay alive. Neither could help reflecting privately that it was such a waste. Both of them committed to their Seraphite tradition, both would have been happy, committed and successful soldiers for their community. If only they hadn't insisted that Lev marry - this all could have been avoided. They could have found that persona another wife and Lev could have been a soldier and all would have been right. But no. Nothing could be so easy.

Now the two groups were at odds, wasting time and resources, one seeking to find and kill, the other seeking to avoid and defend. Lev and Yarra were barely eeking out a living in the meanest sense, finding food and somewhere to sleep, in the meantime they were forced to kill literally hundreds of Seraphite soldiers in defence. It was such a waste. It was lost on neither of them but for the most marginal of life's circumstances they would have been on the other side. They could have been fed, accommodated and had access to medical, weapons and ammunition.

It was particularly difficult because Lev and Yarra were unfamiliar with the ways of the world outside of their community, indeed their teachings forbade contact with and use of such resources, and so they avoided it. That left them within the areas of the Seraphites, in competition for land, food and resources, oftentimes it brought them into violent contact with their former brethren. So it was a particularly fraught existence. When Lev and Yarra rose an hour before dawn each day to meditate they imagined soldiers just on the other side of the wall, fence, forest, wherever, doing the exact same thing. Recalling the same text, the same teachings and attempting to discipline their mind, bodies and spirit in the same ways. Such a waste.

Present

Abby secured the area, it appeared that no bodies had been in the area for some time, she scavenged the area and set up a few sound traps while Lev gathered kindling and firewood and built a fire. Abby returned with water that would be boiled before added to their canteens. They were on their last legs, the pair of them. Area after area of Wolves, Seraphites and infected. Building after building, floor after floor. And when it wasn't actual enemies trying to end their lives, it was the terrain. Damaged and dangerous infrastructure making it almost impossible to get from A to B; buildings falling apart, destroyed, impassable roadways, you name it, Abby and Lev had survived it. Just.

And that's not to mention the heights, Abby shivered involuntarily to recall the feats she had encountered, if it hadn't been for Lev… If it hadn't been for Lev, what a concept! Well, if it hadn't been for Lev she would never have been up there in the first place, but nothing was worth considering if it meant being without Lev. She didn't know when it had happened but they had become companions, close friends, they relied on each other and something more, they genuinely liked each other. She really couldn't imagine being without him.

They shared their food in silence, each on their own 'side' of the fire, they methodically went through their supplies and tended their wounds. Abby reloaded her weapons, checked the quantity and quality of medical and other supplies she had scavenged while Lev checked his bow, repaired arrows and sharpened arrow heads. They ate sparingly, rehydrated and more or less went to sleep. They were tired, not sleepy tired, bone weary tired. Physically it was no wonder, but each was emotionally exhausted and running on empty. Grief. Abby's grief was an old one made new and intensified, it was eating her up like a parasite turning on its host, Lev's grief was fresh. Hers made her reckless and angry, his made him quiet, reflective, a little morbid. She sought revenge, he sought peace.

They were different in other ways too; she was huge, tall, broad, strong and loud while Lev was small and quiet. There were racial and cultural differences and it's difficult to know how much of either contributes to the person they have become. But there were similarities, both driven, serious, intense characters, both powerful in their own way; hers an obvious strength and skills based power, his a more subtle, internal, enduring power.

She had not been asleep more than three hours when vivid images from her dreams caused her to wonder if they had seeped into her waking time, she drew in a short sharp breath and her body snapped into a rigid form. Fight or flight response. Abby froze, she held her breath, her ears pricked for sounds, her eyes opened wide, pupils narrowed in search of threats to life. Nothing. Letting her head drop the inch or so back onto her backpack that doubled as a headrest on the rare occasions she had both the time and opportunity to sleep. There was something, however. Something demanding her attention, Raising her head again she noticed what it was. Lev had, at some point whilst she was sleeping, dragged his bag and bow over to her side and apparently curled himself up against her, between her form and the fire and gone to sleep.

Her first reaction was to hate it. But she knew immediately that wasn't her genuine response, only the easy one. She wanted to argue that she didn't like people to become dependent upon her but that ship had already sailed. Abby and Lev had been moving about together, as a single unit, for so long now that Abby couldn't pretend not to care, she couldn't pretend it was just a safety precaution or until this or that happened. Sure they had saved each other's lives on countless occasions, and more than just threats to life but the other stuff as well, talking each other through obvious difficulties; Abby assures Lev that he did everything he could to save his sister and Lev schools Abby how to train her brain to face her fear. Abby has an acute fear of heights, she is sure that's the only thing she is afraid of. Lev is afraid of being without Abby, for the obvious reason but there is more. He had feelings for her

But she doesn't hate it. Not really. Abby likes Lev. He is a sweet guy, his mind is very simple, which is not to say he is not bright, he is. She thinks it's his spiritual training with the Scars, the Seraphites. He interprets things differently to her, his approach is unique and refreshing and Abby would pay to have some of his peace of mind. He has been a good travelling companion too, their styles are complimentary, he doesn't chat much, just his presence keeps her on an even keel, she makes better choices just because he is around. She shudders to think what dangers she would have thrown herself into were it not for Lev, Abby is always seeking to subvert her emotional pain for the physical, it's so much easier to bear, plus it usually has an end date. Grief does not. Clearly.

They never discuss it. Each lays his and her bag down just so, weapons at the ready, and prepares to sleep on their own side of the fire and at some point Abby wakes to find Lev has silently moved his gear and himself to her side. At first she thought it was a one off and didn't move a muscle, now she rolls to her side and wraps an arm around him, bringing him in close to her body. She is so big and he so slight - it's hard to believe there is only four years between them, Abby only just 20 and Lev at 16. Her outspoken and take charge manner serves to make her appear much older and his introverted nature makes him seem far younger. Maybe her alpha and his beta makes a difference too, but when she puts her hand on his stomach to pull him in, her outstretched hand spans almost one side of his waist to the other. She tucks her fingers into his side and tugs, he slides against her body grateful for the contact.

Time is a funny thing in this sort of environment. In truth neither of them have anywhere to go or anything to do except to survive. That means seeking food, medical, weapons and other supplies and finding a safe shelter whilst avoiding all of their known enemies, anticipating unknown enemies, negotiating other dangers and navigating dangerous terrain. At the same time both are locked in the past, Abby particularly. It's like she is still on her knees in the operating theatre in Owen's arms and her father just metres away with a shiv sticking out of him. The moment her heart broke. She has had her revenge, the thing she thought would make her whole again. It didn't.

No wonder Owen could never get to her. He tried, he tried hard for a long time but he could never get through to her. No that's not right. He could never get through her. Something. He just could never reach her, they were never in the same place at the same time. She would never let him in. He loved her, god knows he did and he tried everything. He needed some contact with her, if not her, then somebody, anybody. He fooled around once or twice and thought she was oblivious, the third time however she could not have missed but still she said nothing. When he finally broke down and told her she simply shrugged and said that she had known. He was hurt, didn't she care? At all? She broke up with him, it seemed that he had given her the reason she needed to, even if it wasn't the real reason. After that nothing else mattered to Owen, not the WLF, not Mel, not the baby, maybe the Fireflies, but mostly that was just an excuse really to get away from them all. And in the end none of it mattered because they were all dead anyway.

And although Abby didn't love Owen like that, romantically, she did love him. Very much. They had always been together, always sought each other out, enjoyed each other's company, had things in common. They picked each other first for jobs with the fireflies and then again at the WLF. They made a formidable team. Everyone knew they were a couple, they were the hot Alpha and Beta couple on campus, if you're into those sort of juvenile similes. Noone would have known they were not sleeping together and everyone was shocked when it started leaking that Owen was fooling around on her. Who would? Everyone knew she was awesome. Then they were over and Mel was pregnant, if she wasn't a doctor they would have shunned her for sure and Owen more or less shunned himself.

Abby kept her chin up, signed up for more and more assignments, began pairing up with Manny and he moved into her room before they could assign someone - better the devil you knew, laughed Abby to herself. Everyone was in love with Abby after that, except Manny. The alpha had kept her dignity, she even kept it civil with Mel. Her value as a WLF member was unmatched, her work ethic, her skills and man was she hot, only a very few people could get past those arms without swooning. Abby's alpha preened at the attention and although she was friendly to absolutely everyone, a little flirty with a few, she was romantic with absolutely no one. It was very unusual for a single alpha not to be a player and rare for an alpha to not at least be tempted to 'help' betas and omegas through their heats by helping themselves. It made her seem more desirable and intriguing but no one could get her. There were a few lucky ones who could elicit a flirt from the alpha, a few more could get a laugh or even a return joke but no one could get her. Welcome to Owen's world!

Past

She was particularly close with her firefly compatriots. They had all suffered a similar loss, well no one more than Abby, she was the youngest, not yet presented and had lost her father. They had survived that hell together and were very close, very tight, very loyal, especially to Abby. She had presented and gone through her first rut almost publicly amongst them and they all had to work together to get her and them through it. They had to find somewhere safe for her to pass her rut, they had to keep her and themselves safe from her explosive rage and primal sexual urges. The pheromones she pumped out were more than intense, she was compelling people to present to her, to beg to be taken by her. Many suspected Abby was a prime alpha at this point.

Abby was everyone's friend, she kept her problems to herself and added value to the WLF overall; amassed a lot of kills, brought back a lot of hunting spoils, contributed enormously to their intelligence about caches, enemy camps and their troop movements, route blockages. She did a lot of favours for people, for example she would leave particular scavenged items like music, books, tech or tools outside interested people's rooms or if she was moving between one unit and another she would take notes or gifts for people's loved ones. In return she often received an extra helping of protein on her dinner plate or she would get a heads up about a new used pair of boots in extra good nick that was put aside for her to take a look at. She was able to request her favourite vehicle and weapons too which gave her a lot of comfort. She never asked for these things outright, she never had to, but was happy to receive them when they came her way.

Present

One night, after waking suddenly from a particularly harrowing nightmare, Abby rolled over, settled herself, reached out to Lev and dragged his body into hers and they lay there wordlessly, together. A long hour passed with neither of them finding sleep and both aware of the other's wakefulness. Lev pried one of his arms out and lay his hand against Abby's bicep. She felt that small warm paw against her bare chilled skin. It took a moment for her to realise that she had held her breath. As she let it go she also realised that she had wanted to run. She had wanted to snatch her arm back, roll away, grab her backpack and bolt. She is not even sure why she hadn't. She lay there thinking about it. She had wanted to run away from her feelings about the touch, not the touch itself, she realised. God, why was she so reactionary? Why was the physical so difficult for her?

She must have fallen asleep at some point and the next time she woke, Lev had turned his body into hers. They were now effectively cuddling. WTF? She realised he was awake so she squeezed her eyes shut and willed it all to go away. Well, not Lev necessarily, but his proximity perhaps. Only perhaps? Jesus Abby, what the fuck is going on, she asked herself? I don't know, ask him! He had gone from moving close to her after she had fallen asleep, now he just went to bed on her side. He had gone from seeking her body warmth - or so she had assumed, to touching, to cuddling?

Looking in on this scenario, everything was fine, completely calm. Whilst they both only appeared to be asleep, their breathing remained steady and their bodies were relaxed and motionless. But mentally Lev was active and Abby was in complete chaos. He began pumping out calming pheromones to soothe Abby, he could practically taste the stress she was manufacturing in her mind and body. He pried out a hand once more and lay it on Abby's bicep, "Just breathe, Abby," he said softly. She did as she was bid, partly out of habit to following such instructions from Lev partly because she didn't know what else to do.

Ok so she wanted to run screaming from the place, again, but given she never actually did that, Abby was beginning to wonder if indeed she really did want to. She could but she didn't, time and again, she stayed. Perhaps that was just a reaction, not a genuine desire or viable choice. She squeezed her eyes tighter and tried to breathe to a pattern, tried to quiet her crazy, scrambling, panicky mind.

In the meantime Lev pumped out his scent for her and watched her face. He had come to find her very beautiful. He even thought her chaos was beautiful. But he was fearful, he knew she wanted to run screaming from the room, every room, almost all of the time. He was fearful that she might just do that one of these days and not ever come back. He scented her and watched her as her eyes twitched beneath her scrunched up eyelids, a frown creasing her forehead, her lips pressed tightly together. She was always on the knife's edge of complete control or absolute relinquishment, between strength and weakness, between vulnerability and impenetrability.

Lev had been watching her for a while now and had come to understand, at least he thought he did, if not the source of her difficulty, the pattern of its expression. He seemed to be intune with her responses and reactions, even those that played out solely in her mind. As he walked beside her he would note the sudden change in her breathing and demeanour and secretly pump out calming pheromones to help her process her feelings and after a few minutes she would become calmer, less reactive. He didn't want her unique essence to be needlessly wasted, seeping out of her unknowingly in her anger and stress, left to evaporate on street corners.

He released a huge dose of his scent before reaching his hand behind his back to tug Abby's hand free from under his ribs, he pulled it around his body more, like she might be holding him. "Keep breathing," he whispered as her face betrayed her reaction, her lips and eyes squeezed more tightly and the frown extended well across the top of each eyebrow. When he brought his hand back around it landed on Abby's upper arm, again, it was his favourite part of her. Indeed it was Lev's inability to resist Abby's huge muscles that gave him the courage to cross the fireside in the first place.

Past

When he first saw her, he thought she was a bloke, granted he was quite preoccupied at the time to give it much thought, when his sister said to cut her down, it was only afterwards he realised his mistake. As they were fleeing, the two of them, Abby and Lev, working in tandem to eliminate their pursuers, defend themselves and an injured Yarra, he had been caught by their different styles of defence and attack and couldn't help be a little distracted by it, despite the levity of the situation.

Lev was a more covert actor, sending in silent arrows from a distance from the shadows, he was able to scale trees and wait with patience. Abby was like a smash and grab terrorist. Her physicality didn't lend itself to quiet footfalls or hiding easily in the grass and her weapons of choice were less quiet than she was, immediately alerting others to her location. And when she was out of bullets she would just smash the enemy with a blunt weapon, a piece of wood, a mechanical tool or her fists, in an uncoordinated, extravagant flurry of energy - arms and fists, legs and feet, she would headbut and grunt loudly through her assaults.

Lev always thought it a beautiful collage of ugliness. She was beautiful; her face, her arms, her mind, even her sweat was attractive to Lev. But it was ugly in that they lived in such a hostile violent world, that rendered such actions necessary. Lev also thought that Abby's energy was wasted at times by the undisciplined use of her mind and body, if only her rage could be tempered and her movements made more economical, he often reflected. He thought every moment of unnecessary mental and physical stress and upset was a waste of Abby's essence and because he had come to love her he wanted to preserve it.

Present

He allowed his finger to trace the muscle definition in Abby's upper arm, it was a risk, he knew it, but a calculated risk. She was an alpha, he knew, and alpha's had a strong protective streak, hence his moving her arm around him before touching her so. He was hoping to manipulate her body and trick her mind - if her body was in a protective posture her mind may be less likely to flee, responding instead to a caretaking instinct. It appeared to be working. He touched her very lightly and she alternately froze, held her breath, twitched her mouth, released the breath and frowned more fiercely but she stayed. She stayed. And Lev continued to watch and touch her arm, sometimes with his index finger, sometimes, with two, sometimes his whole hand and then back again.

Finally she felt willing and able to speak. Abby had filtered through her thoughts, her panic had subsided somewhat, some words appeared to be available and she was sure she could manage to say them without screaming. She regulated her breathing, softened her facial features and then relaxed her whole body as Lev had often schooled her to do, "What are you doing, Lev?" For his part, he was surprised she had lasted this long. He had been expecting her to bolt, to slap his hand away, to push herself up and get busy. And she could still do any or all of those things. Her eyes were still closed, he could see her eyeballs flitting restlessly beneath her eyelids, just before they began to tighten again, to fall back into the stressful frown again as she anticipated his answer. "I am touching your arm," Lev replied evenly, "I will stop if you ask me to." Silence.

Lev chalked that up to a win right there. She didn't ask and he kept on touching her. He wondered for the hundredth time if both of his hands together could bridge the girth of her bicep, unflexed. He doubted it. For her part, Lev's response gave her nothing to work with. She already knew he was touching her and of course he would stop if she asked, and if he didn't she was certainly in a position to make him, one way or the other. So his answer did not satisfy her question. Perhaps she should have asked why he was doing that? He would say because he wanted to or it felt nice and that wouldn't help either. The real problem was less about him touching her and more about how she felt about that. And that was a problem because she liked it. OMFG! Abby liked it. She was so shocked, her eyes sprang open and he whispered, "keep breathing, Abby," and she did.

Her hazel eyes found his brown ones, and they were at once two sides of the same coin - her all emotion and panic, he all gentle and serene but connected all of a sudden. Of course he wasn't serene, but she didn't need to know that, he was just able to school his physicality more decisively than she could, also he was the one pressing buttons and she was the one being pressed. He wished it didn't have to be this way, but that's the way it was. They could go on as they were for one hundred years and Abby would never touch him, even if she had wanted to, needed to. No, if something was going to happen between them, it would have to be up to Lev. He was moving at glacial speed to signal his intentions, Abby was determined to be blind to everything, to wilfully misinterpret everything else.

He was determined to achieve just one more thing in this interaction. The two were lying on a folded up tarp for warmth and comfort, face to face, Abby on her left side and Lev on his right. Abby's left arm was around Lev's body, his head cradled on her elbow and her lower arm snaked around his back and her fingers curled around his waist. Her right arm rested along her side with her hand resting on her thigh just above her knee. Lev shifted his weight, almost imperceptibly to release his right hand and with his left, he fingered his way down her arm, past her elbow, along her forearm and ghosted over her hand. He picked it up and brought it back to his other hand and held it, while his left hand returned to touching her bicep. Their eyes remained connected.

One small step for Lev, one giant leap for Abby Anderson. "What are you doing, Lev? And don't say touching me." "Keep breathing Abby," he reminded her, pushing out his scent to calm and soothe her and then added "Don't ask questions you already know the answer to." Damn it, he was right. She wished he wasn't, and she wished she wasn't secretly glad that he was. "Why are you doing it?" "Again, you already know the answer, Abby." Damn, damn. She was like a can of worms, her mind and her stomach all jiggling around uncomfortably. She wanted to move, to change things up, to get away from this feeling but she also knew she didn't. At all. It happened so quickly, Abby moved from wanting to escape, recognising that she didn't and then suddenly she wanted more!

Abby never wanted more, not of this. You're broken, remember? You don't do this - romance, kissing, sex. Wait, who said anything about sex? Oh god. It was like Lev could hear her thoughts, "Breath, Abby." She closed her eyes, information overload. Oh grow up, he is touching your arm and holding your hand, you're not a virgin, for god's sake. She couldn't believe that she liked it and she wanted more, she squeezed his fingers lightly and he squeezed back. Just kiss him, already. Who's voices were these, inside her head? One saying run, one demanding to kiss him, one trying to even it all out - the voice of reason, that one was. She had a hard enough time when it was just her own voice! Fuck it.

She took a deep fortifying breath and held it, while she used their joined hands to push Lev's upper shoulder outwards turning him over onto his back a little and she rolled forward, her face was over his and leaned forward and pressed her lips to his. It's funny how people are. Abby was panicking until she made a decision to participate and then she was all calm and Lev, who had fantasised about this moment forever, now that it was finally here, he freaked out. Perhaps it's just about whoever is in the driver's seat is the most at ease? Sensing his sudden uneasiness, Abby pulled back, but Lev wasn't giving up that easy, he moved his hand from her arm to the back of her neck and pulled her down.

They kissed very slowly. Lev had never kissed anybody in his life and Abby had only ever kissed Owen, and despite them being together for over three years, there wasn't a real lot of that going on either. Mostly chaste kisses, a few times it went a little further, not what anyone would call making out and they had had sex one time, well after they had broken up, just recently infact. It wasn't what Abby would call all that enjoyable, given her clit didn't extend at all and Owen was able to penetrate her should have signalled to both of them that this was rather one sided. But then it always had been, at least the sexual part. But she got through it, that's about all that could be said about it.

Owen had confessed that it meant a lot to him, but the only thing it meant to her was regret and she wasn't going to stab him in the heart by revealing that to him, so she simply said that it meant nothing to her. Which stabbed him in the heart anyway. That's people, for you!

But kissing Lev was nothing like kissing Owen. Lev was nothing like Owen. In fact Abby with Lev didn't feel at all like Abby with Owen. This time Lev pulled back, he pushed out his effective soothing pheromones. "What?" asked Abby, burying her nose in his scent gland, breathing him in. "We don't have to do this," he said quietly, his eyes searching hers. Her fingers released his hand and touched his face, "I do want to, Lev," she said, and it was true, suddenly it was very true, the thought that Lev would pull away from her now, was very unpleasant.

"I can hear you thinking," he gave her a small smile, trying to be understanding, it was a lot, he knew it was, more than he had hoped for. Her index finger continued to stroke his soft cheek, "I am panicking a very little bit, Lev, but I do want this, with you, now." Abby tried to cover all the exits, from one extreme to the other, from never letting anyone in to putting herself way out there and giving Lev no excuse to misunderstand her.

He nodded, gave her an extra dose, he accepted her as she was and leaned back into the kiss. This time she ran the tip of her tongue across his lips, his breath hitched and his lips parted, she was very slow, very gentle but now she was awake. She was awake to the possibility of this, of her and Lev. Her alpha was awake too, the wolf pacing at the outskirts of this scenario, surprised, sniffing it out, observing, certainly interested. She felt her wolf waking up inside her, like he was stretching out under her skin after a long slumber. She had felt him like this before, mostly around the times of her rut but never with Owen and not like this. She kept the kiss slow, exploratory, it was lovely, sexy even and woke things within her. She wanted more and she knew her alpha definitely wanted more, but she didn't want to rush this, not for her sake, not for Lev and not for whatever this was between them.

She touched Lev's shaved head and liked the feel of the spikey shards against her skin as she moved against the pattern of growth, she could feel his fingers touching her neck under her braid. Her whole body was waking up, sexually. Every movement Lev made, even if it was incidental, affected her, charged her, elicited a response from her. When his tongue made the move into her mouth she groaned and realised this is why everybody is talking about sex. Why everybody she knew was doing it, or trying to do it and this was why Owen couldn't wait. She never knew it could feel like this. Her clit twitched and began to extend and she wanted to push her body flush against Lev's but she thought it might be too soon. Lev was of age, she reminded herself, but only just.

Similarly Lev was swirling through the physical mystery of sexual awakening. Normally so very intune with himself, his feelings, his physicality, his environment - right now, not so much. He was overwhelmed, stimulated to a great degree, turned on and hardly present. He just couldn't believe this was happening, he thought to risk a touch to her arm and she would swat him away like an annoying child but now she was kissing him. Actually putting her tongue in his mouth! It felt amazing. He wished she would roll right over on top of him and pin him to the ground underneath her heavy body and kiss him senseless, make him dizzy, until he couldn't breathe. But he dared not hope for more than this moment, it was just so good, and he could feel it down there.

Down there. When Abby had asked Lev why the Seraphites were trying to kill him he had responded truthfully by saying it was because he had shaved his head. She didn't believe him and he understood why that was. It was true but it wasn't the whole truth. Lily was transgendered and had shaved her head in an attempt to transition from her life as female Lily to live as a male, as Lev. So the Seraphites were not trying to kill Lev because they didn't approve of his haircut, which they didn't, but because he challenged their religious traditions regarding obedience, in this case to fixed gender roles. Lev's refusal to conform was unacceptable to them and his sin was punishable by death.

He was thinking about this now because he was about to come face to face with the crux of the issue. Abby had heard the Seraphite's calling him Lily and he felt certain that she had put two and two together but what if he was wrong and she didn't accept him. And whilst he was on the subject, was Lev going to be able to accept himself, vagina and all? Like Abby with sex, he had just avoided thinking about it, talking about it and certainly situations where it might come up. Until now. He felt very aroused, Abby's mouth on his, her tongue was doing things that made his breath hitch, his crotch wet and he wanted to buck into her, he didn't know if that was natural or not, a boy thing or a girl thing? All he knew was that he wanted her, more of her and never wanted this moment to end.

Abby was feeling the same, everything about her response to Lev was matched, the ragged breathing, the seeking out more and increased contact, he was pulling and catching at her too, pushing his body against hers. She had moved her mouth from his and began kissing his cheek and down his neck, around his ear, she knew he was excited, she was turning him on too. She was glad. She had thought herself damaged but she wasn't, her body was responding just fine - better than fine and she was able to make Lev feel good too. It was a heady, intoxicating mix. She moved her hand down the back of his neck and pulled his shirt to one side so she could access more of his skin along his shoulder.

Neither had made a move to touch the other's breasts or groin, somehow they seemed to have come to some unspoken agreement about that, but she wanted more and she was pretty sure Lev wanted more too. They were going to have to communicate with real words at some point in the near future. She knew Lev was transgendered, he was very likely going to have vagina down there and she didn't care about that at all, she would take Lev with either/or, both or even neither. Hell, her own situation wasn't all that standard.

Alpha females were not that common, and prime alpha females - rarest of all, if what they said about Abby was true about her. Alpha females had female genitalia most of the time, around the time of their rut their clit would extend and serve to form penis like shaft, without the capacity to ejaculate or form a knot with which to tie and impregnate their partners. A prime alpha female could extend their clit at will, and rather than forming a penis like shaft, it was actually a full cock, with the capacity to ejaculate, knot and impregnate their partner. In addition while all alpha's can and do make others submit by either a show of physical force or by pheromone domination the prime alpha can make everybody submit completely, either select individuals or a whole crowd. People would fall to their knees baring their necks and would agree to participate or do as desired without further effort.

Abby couldn't help herself, she was so turned on, she snaked her hand up Lev's shirt to his stomach and rested her hand there, sometimes scratching a little with her nails, sometimes just creating friction with the pads of her fingers. She wanted him, very much, if he gave the signal she would rip their clothes off right now. She wanted to fuck him but she knew that would not be happening today or any day soon. Maybe ever. She didn't know where he stood in terms of his gender, his body, sex and all of that, but in addition just the sheer difference in body size was something to consider. And that was before him knowing that she was (probably) a prime alpha, an extremely well endowed prime alpha. Her cock would split Lev in half and she wasn't into that - not that kind of submission, not force, not pain, not sex at any cost. There were plenty of other things they could do, besides she didn't think Lev would want to be knotted or impregnated either, and that was fair enough.

Speaking of other things to do, Lev pushed his hand up under his shirts and laid over the top of Abby's and then subtly urged it up over his breast binding. He moved to make her hand flat and move up and down over his breasts, they were very small, not that Abby was complaining, she had hardly any breasts to speak of herself. But what she liked about this was, and it was really turning her on, was Lev showing her his body, the way he wanted her to see it, the way he saw it. He was showing her how to touch him, how to make him feel good and that was hot. She groaned again and recaptured his mouth with hers, fuck she wanted to roll on top of him and dry hump him into the earth.

And then it happened, Lev pulled her shoulder and rolled onto his back, pulling her right over on top of him, Abby had to prop herself up with her elbows, worried she was going to squash him beneath her. Lev used his own elbows to knock hers out from under her and pulled her into his body by her shoulders, their lips were still connected until they both moaned at the pleasure this new position afforded them. "Lev, oh, my god," Abby moaned, trying to mitigate the ways her hips were pushing into his, he was sure going to feel her cock now, she thought. "Abby, don't stop," Lev panted. They opened their eyes at that moment and saw each other's desire; the flushed faces, the blown pupils, the gasping for air, the sheen on their skin.

"Should we talk?" Abby offered weakly, "No, that would be stopping." Lev responded with certainty and they resumed their kissing with fervour, neither resisting the bucking and throwing of their hips, they grunted as they worked toward a particularly pleasurable rhythm. Abby reached down to Lev's hips and tried to find some way to grab his ass but he was pinned to the ground so she made her way back to his breasts and moved against him the way he had shown her. Lev was definitely getting close to coming, Abby thought, she wasn't quite sure what to do. Of course she knew what to do, well to herself at any rate, but she didn't know what he would want. She rolled off to one side a little and hooked her index finger into the top of Lev's pants, "Can I touch you?" she asked, tugging gently as she kissed his neck, near his ear, "I think you should," he replied and she heard the smile in his voice.

She didn't bother with buttons, buckles and or belts, she slipped her hand straight down the front of his pants, against his skin, by-passing the layers and making contact with his sex. Lev drew in a sharp breath and his whole body shuddered for at least one whole minute. Abby loved it too, she paused and let him have his moment to appreciate and adjust, she kissed him and nuzzled into his neck. When he finally caught up, he threw his arms around her neck and urged her to continue, he could hardly help from thrusting against her hand. She slipped one finger way down to his opening and brought up some of his wetness and coated his clit with it, she touched him very softly, first with one finger, then with two. She didn't try for any tricks or impressive manoeuvres, not that she had a great many, she just wanted his first time to be simple, loving, easy, with someone who cared for him, loved him, no pressure, no guilt. Not like her first time.

Lev buried his head into her neck and held on bucking ferociously, he didn't make much noise but Abby knew he was close. She could feel his clit, hard and tight like a wound spring and then he made quite a few rapid vowel sounds in her ear, his body went rigid and his clit melted against her fingers. Lev went boneless and silent, his arms slipped from her neck. Abby carefully slipped her hand out of his pants and she continued to hold him close to her body, she watched him lay there in his blissful state, as his breath began to even out. She touched his face, traced the line of his jaw, dropped a few kisses on his cheek and the corner of his mouth.

He opened his eyes and looked at her quite shyly, which Abby thought was adorable, she smiled at him, "Are you ok?" "Of course, I am with you," he replied. She smiled again, "Water?" he nodded. She gently untangled their bodies from each other and passed Lev the canteen, while she was up she put a couple more logs on the fire to keep Lev warm after his sudden inactivity and aloneness. She searched her pack for some food items, there was some dried fruit, jerky, biscuits and she was still carrying around some MRE's she had found recently. She handed Lev some bits and pieces and he took them, watching her carefully. He was trying to discern if she was regretting their coupling, if she was trying to rebuild the walls she always used to keep people at a distance. He couldn't tell, his mind was still a little foggy.

Later

Abby had a few quick jobs to do whilst she was up and about and when she returned she made sure to sit right by Lev, behind him actually, to signal that she was not sorry, that she had wanted him, wanted him still. He was relieved when she pulled on her coat and sat behind him, pulling him back against her, wrapping her arm around his waist. She kissed the back of his head and the back of his neck and then pulled out the map from her coat pocket and laid it in his lap, looking at it from over his shoulder. She pointed with her free hand, "We are here," she said. Lev nodded in his usual quick way. Then she lifted her index finger toward the window, "see that storm rolling in?" Lev looked up, nodded and returned to the map again. Abby continued, "After tonight, the rain is going to make it tough for us to navigate south east, like we talked about, and these areas here and here are going to be waterlogged for a week, maybe more."

"What do you want to do?" Lev asked, knowing that Abby would have a plan. Abby sighed, she would have liked to have made a joke about what she would really like to do, given her dick was still hard, not fully erect, but still. But due to the newness of their 'situation' and their cultural differences she let that one go. For now. "I want you to know, Lev," she kissed his neck again, "I like where this is going. Between us." He turned, momentarily thrown by the change in topic, "Me too, Abby," he ran his hands along the outside of her thighs, probably not realising that she was already turned on and such touches didn't help.

"With that in mind, I suggest we flit down to the ground level and scavenge through the shops on the street front, which we were going to do upon leaving anyway. But rather than leaving we come back here for a few days, avoid the storm, the flooding after and all the people it will flush out, in its wake. What do you think?" Abby leaned back on one hand and watched Lev think it through, he was always cautious, "A few days?" he checked with her. She nodded, "We haven't stayed anywhere more than one night since the aquarium. This place is out of the elements, we have cleared the building of infected, we can barricade the door like we did last night. I hate to say that we would be totally safe, but relatively safe as anywhere else we have stayed. To be honest, I could use the rest, Lev, my leg is still bothering me. But if that doesn't appeal to you, we don't have to."

"Your leg?" Lev looked up at her, his eyes round with concern. "It's fine, I think I twisted my knee or something, maybe a thigh muscle, I don't know, I try not to think about it," she rushed to ressaure him but her over talking was her tell and Lev now knew that Abby was in serious pain. She had a high pain threshold, the beatings and injuries he had witnessed her sustain would have slowed and/or stopped most other people, so when Abby indicated, in a roundabout way, she had a little niggle - she was in pain. Well that settled the matter, they would stay, Abby would rest and maybe she would show him how to make her feel as good as she made him feel earlier.

He blushed and to cover it he said, "Yes, I would like to stay," He knew it pointless to mention it, but it was worth a shot, "Why don't you stay and rest and I will run down and search -" "Yeah, Lev, no thank you. I am going," and just to brook no further discussion on the matter she began to rise and get her gear in order. Lev knew it would only anger her to raise it again, so he began to separate the logs in the old combustible wood heater and get his own stuff together. Even though they intended to return, they would still take all of their stuff because plans could change on a dime, Lev had heard Abby say that, he wasn't sure what a dime was, but he knew it meant something of little consequence.

Rather than unbarricade the front door, they stepped out onto the balcony and jumped from one to another and hopped in through the neighbour's window and used their front door instead. This building was in much better condition than many other buildings they had seen, accessed, escaped through, escaped from, survived! The stairwell was entirely intact, many of the windows were blown out, but given the storm had not settled yet, it didn't matter so much. Out of habit they made their way quietly so as not to alert enemies or infected to their presence, they had cleared the building yesterday as they came through and by all accounts either new ones had yet to spawn or relocate to the building.

They hit the street and kept to the walls, wow the wind was really blustery this morning, the storm was building. Abby and Lev took turns taking point, they started with the first store on their side of the street, they would move systematically through room by room, floor by floor, checking every drawer, every shelf, reading every note. At first Lev felt it was a great inconvenience, he didn't need to scavenge for goods and supplies because his people, the Seraphites, had provided him with clothing, food, medical, weapons etc. Until they didn't.

Abby had showed Lev what she was doing and why, then she trained him in the how. He was continually surprised at how much stuff still remained even after all these years, even though other people had already picked the place over, sometimes more than once, even many times. It took a while for Lev to get his eye in, he was unused to living in and frequenting such buildings and sometimes he didn't see drawers and cupboards the way Abby intuitively knew they were there. And even now, he was frequently confused by items, he would hold it up and say "this?" Abby would glance over and say "nope" or she would approach and say 'oh this is used for…' and demonstrate.

At first Lev didn't care and wasn't interested, he would either pocket it or leave it as indicated, and move to the next thing. But now that he was on his own (as in no longer part of the Seraphine organisation) and now that he was with Abby (as in working together) he felt inclined to give this activity a little more care and attention. He could now recognise the most valuable items for any modern day scavenger; weapons and ammunition, medical supplies and food, there were also clothes particularly coats, boots and underclothes. Abby was fastidious about scavenging, it was like a job for her, if even they were being chased by some hideous monster, she could help but check over her shoulder as she ripped open a drawer in passing.

They cleared the stores on their side of the street with only a half a dozen infected to annoy them, hardly a threat to these experienced survivors. They crossed the street and entered the first store through the back, a note on a pinboard behind the register made reference to a secret entrance to a cellar and both Abby and Lev were thrilled to see that this item had not been discovered by any other scavengers. They located the loose floor board, released the catch and the trap door fell open inward, revealing a set of steps, it was exciting and Abby could not resist reaching for Lev's hand as they descended together, hopeful for treasures.

It turns out there wasn't all that much of value to anyone but the original owner; boxes of documents, a metal box with cash, some keepsakes, although there were some nuggets of gold which Abby took. A few shops further along had some food and medical supplies and the final store but one, had some ammo. All in all not a bad haul for a couple of hours work, Abby mentioned and Lev nodded, he looked up at the dark sky and the low hanging clouds looking heavy with rain. She stepped behind him and wrapped her arm around his chest, "You ok, Lev? You're awfully quiet." He placed his hands over her arm affectionately and shook his head, "I'm ok."

Hard to know with Lev, Abby reflected, sometimes he just was quiet. She wouldn't describe him as moody which gives the impression that he was often in a bad mood, rather she would say he was changeable. Sometimes chatty, sometimes quiet, sometimes quiet with a reason, other times just plain quiet. Thinking about herself for a moment, Abby felt changed by their encounter this morning, she felt as though her heart was open to him, she felt herself pulled toward him, seeking connection with him, opportunities for affection. She wondered whether he had noticed? If he had, she didn't think he seemed bothered by it, just now he returned her gesture, hmmm, she was reading too much into this.

"What now?" she asked him. He shrugged, "Back up?" "Are you sure, Lev? We still have an hour or so before this rain hits, is there something you want?" "No, lets go." He put his hand in hers and tugged her back down the street to where they had stacked a number of wooden pallets, convenient fire wood, if only it didn't burn quite so quickly. There wouldn't be many people about now, with this rain bearing down, people didn't enjoy getting wet especially when it was not so easy to get dry again, particularly coats and things. They ran back and forward several times each to stack the pallets inside their building and secured the front door from easy entry.

Lev carried one pallet up the tens of flights of stairs, if it had been a different shape or if he had been taller he could easily have managed more than one, he wasn't weak, despite appearances. Abby carried three on her head, she balanced the first one and then hoisted the next two on top with one hand, her upper body strength was really something. Lev wasn't stupid either, he stood back and watched her do it and then followed her up so her could watch her move, smiling at his good fortune. When they got to the door of their apartment, it was decided that Lev would do the balcony hop and bring in their stuff while Abby grabbed the final load. She left her coat, bag and weapons at the door, and this time brought four pallets back.

Lev put the kitchen and bathroom bins out on the balcony with several large buckets and pots to collect rainwater, he was going to wash all of his clothes and hoped to get enough water for a bath. Abby broke the pallets easily by putting her foot straight through the middle and then she got onto sorting through their food stores, she fancied a hot meal rather than scraps of this and that. They still hadn't talked about it, her and Lev, it was playing on her mind. When she had offered to talk about it, she had meant about the particular sex right then and there, what did he want and not want? But he had urged her not to speak, so she hadn't and they got by with minimal words. She wondered now, did that 'no speaking' guideline still hold?

It was on Lev's mind too. He wanted to do it again, the whole thing, the laying together, the kissing, the touching, only he wanted to touch Abby as well. He knew she was an alpha, he could feel her erection when they were getting heated this morning. Abby wasn't in her rut and he knew the rumours about prime alpha's and wondered if she could be? It would certainly explain a lot of things but he would have expected a prime alpha to be male - which given his own gender nonconformity, he knew was a stupid thing to think. But male anyway, and totally aggressive and controlling. Abby was aggressive, there was no denying that. She was certainly very demanding of herself in a way she was not of others. And she was aggressive to enemies and infected, like really.

But she was never aggressive to himself. She had even been kind to himself and Yarra, right from the get go, she helped to get them somewhere safe, she put herself in danger to come back for them and carried Yarra all the way back to that Aquarium. She wasn't that kind to Owen, but Lev suspected that was because he was with the pregnant woman and had sex with Abby, she said she didn't care but she did. Lev could tell. She was hard with Owen but not aggressive. He looked up and saw her preparing food in the kitchen. The skin of her arms was pink because the muscles underneath were still recovering and cooling from the exertion of two trips up so many flights of stairs with pallets, there was a sheen on her skin.

"Abby, are you a prime alpha?" he asked in a curious voice. She stopped what she was doing and turned to face him, she looked at him sort of hard and then returned to her task, Abby was tempted at first to ask him what made him ask such a question but she knew he would be well within his right to return, "Don't ask questions you already know the answer to." The answer was clearly her out of rut erection from this morning. She sighed and responded "Many people have assumed that about me, I don't know the answer but I assume it's at least possible, if not probable."

It got her thinking though, she pulled the cork from a bottle of red wine with her fingers and set it aside. Lev had seen her do it and grinned to himself, she was not at all aware that she had just performed a feat unmanageable by most people. "I am aware that I could join a group, any group, and have great success relatively easily," she began thoughtfully. "I work hard, people like me, I am successful. With the wolves I rose to the top quite quickly and easily, without really trying. I mean not the top, but toward the top, close with the top man. I got my pick of assignments and recompense, many people wanted to get on my good side, if you know what I mean -"

"No. What does that mean?" asked Lev, Abby poured the wine into two glasses and came to sit by Lev, watching him sharpen his arrow heads.

"It means people wanted to win my favour," she said gently, knowing he was going to make the link to sex.

He took his time to respond by saying, "They wanted to be your lover?"

"Well yes, that too, but not only. I got treated well in the kitchen, in the laundry, with supplies, with everything I suppose. And yes, Lev, people did make themselves available to me romantically, but I have only been with one other person, one time. I want you to know that."

"Owen." he said without looking at her.

"Yes. Owen and I were together for a long time, more than three years but we never… He wanted to but I…" se shrugged. Abby was always spoke more directly than she was doing so now, but then again she never talked about sex. "But more recently, after we broke up, things became a little strained between us and I, well I guess I gave in."

"He forced you?"

"No, no Lev, Owen would never do that. But it was wrong, I was wrong and I regret it. And now he is dead and I… well it's done now. But what I meant to say before about being prime alpha is that it doesn't matter to me. Any advantage it might hold is only to be had in relation to others and I no longer seek others, so it's a moot point."

"Moot point?"

"Irrelevant."

He nodded, having grasped the point. "Except for me," he asked hopefully and she found him utterly adorable all over again.

"Except for you, Lev," and she leaned forward and kissed him.

They kissed for what seemed like an hour, until a huge crash of thunder sounded and caused them both to jump and then laugh. Lev turned around, leaning his back into Abby's side and they watched a terrific show of thunder and lightning and when the rain could no longer be held back, it tore itself from the clouds and fell heavily. It really was some storm, it was almost as dark as night, even though it was still only about three oclock and the rain was really coming down. The waterways will be flooded for a week easy, Abby surmised to herself.

Past

They were cornered. They had dropped down over a tall solid gate and by the time they had hit the grass, they knew they were in trouble. Despite having watched the area before entering they hadn't seen signs of movement or habitation but that's how traps work. Set out a few lures, bait the target, entice them into a trap and hey presto. She should have seen it coming. It's always a better idea to kill the prey immediately, only fuckers play with their food before they kill it. Kill them before you have a chance to fuck it up, before they develop a strategy to escape and luckily for Abby and Lev, they were dealing with fuckers.

Abby would have shot them the minute their feet hit the ground, ran in, scooped up her prize (bags, weapons, ammo, medicine, food, clothing and evaporated. These clowns rose from their hidey holes, grinning at each other and started with the comments "Well, well, well…" "Look what the cat dragged in…" "What do we have here?" Yawn, fellows, yawn. Abby made a play for her weapons to distract and signalled Lev to beat it, they had been working together long enough that he knew that meant to appear to abandon her, take off, peeling off a couple of predators with him and circle back.

When Lev bolted, Abby contributed to the confusion, "Wait, come back!" Two or three immediately charged after him, leaving the other four or five, she hadn't discounted the idea that more were hanging back, to deal with Abby and her guns. It was the smartest thing they did, but it wasn't enough. Abby wasn't going to be able to shoot them all without getting shot herself so she made as though she was giving up, to draw them in. With sheer strength she could knock out two or three, the others would not shoot for fear of hitting their crew mates, use the last one as a human shield, shoot the other two and then find Lev and search the bodies.

It was a pretty good strategy, one she had used plenty of times, it played to her strengths but she didn't account for one of the guys holding back to fancy himself a crack shot. Just before she could grab her human shield she felt a sting in her shoulder, she was momentarily caught unawares, she looked down, she saw a hole in her shirt but no blood so she pushed on with what she always did in this scenario. Fell to the ground screaming, pulled her pistol with the silencer out from her leg holster, shot the shield guy, dragging his body over and shooting the other two with consecutive head shots.

And that's how it's done, fuckers, thought Abby. Now for Lev. He would have taken them far from her given the chance, also she knew he would stick to grass, shrubs and trees and these guys would be searching buildings and vehicles. Rather than head in the direction Lev took, she took the other side, expecting him to pop up somewhere along the way, she gave low intermittent whistles as he had taught her to do, listening for his return call.

This was a good trapping area, she had to give them points for that. Hemmed in on all sides, apparently only one entry/exit point, folks would be lured in, as they were, drop down into a clearing with no obvious cover or escape. They should have been picked off immediately, their bodies and bags scavenged and their carcasses burned, reset the lures and go again. Abby was making her way between abandoned vehicles, seeking out the green patches seeking Lev, where was he? She caught sight of one of the fuckers circling a tree, shotgun at the ready, he also was seeking Lev.

Not going to happen, thought Abby, she would bet a bottle of whiskey that Lev was up in that very tree waiting for a good shot, she hunkered down behind a vehicle and waited for Lev to do his thing. Not easy because of her size and something else, too. Oh shit, her shoulder! It was bleeding now, and hurt with a sort of burning feeling. She peered through the window of the vehicle and saw the guy making his way in her general direction away from the tree, perhaps Lev wasn't there afterall? She began to worry, if she had been shot, it is possible that Lev was also hurt, that consideration hurt worse than being shot in the shoulder.

Time to end this, new plan. Abby just stood up and started firing, she pumped two out of three shots into the guy, ran over and kicked him to make sure he wasn't going to get up and started calling "Lev? Lev?" like they weren't being stalked and hunted by a group of fuckers, she kept her weapon and the ready and turned in a slow circle, eyes peeled for either of the two who had taken off after Lev, or Lev himself. Then she heard it, the softest thump and knew immediately what it was, she turned back too the tree and Lev was straightening his legs from the drop, with a grin.

"Thanks, out of arrows," he explained. "Thank god," Abby was relieved to see him, alive and in one piece, they began walking toward each other. "Did you get the other two?" she asked, swinging a big arm around him, he confirmed and it was then he noticed the blood on her shoulder, he tried not to panic, she hated that. "Let's have a look?" he began scenting her immediately, calming her with waves of pheromones, he tried to sound calm and unbothered by it and she appreciated his effort, "In the sun," she turned and led him back to the vehicle she had been using to obscure her presence.

She shrugged off her backpack and sat down heavily. Lev knew the routine, this was an observation and patch up job, just to get Abby back on her feet, she would not be satisfied until those bodies and this immediate area had been completely scavenged and absolutely cleared of enemies and infected. Once that was done, Abby would indulge Lev's desire to see the blood flow staunched, bullet removed, wound stitched and bandaged. Then he would want to feed and water her and insist she rest.

They understood each other. They worked well together. They allowed each other to care for them; Lev had never allowed anyone else but Yarra and Abby hadn't had anyone since her father, Owen, yes, but the limitations have already been thrashed out ad finitum. Lev would take care of Abby and she would let him, they both need it, they will both enjoy it. She suspected that being with Lev kept her human, without him, she would have killed that Ellie girl and the rest of them and probably have gone back to the WLF and lived out the rest of her days as an empty suicidal celibate alpha.

That was a good haul for them, that day, those guys had a butt load of weapons and ammo, stockpiles of medical supplies and food. If Abby and Lev were fuckers they would have just moved on in and taken over the obviously lucrative racket, but they weren't. They took what they could carry and hid the rest, insurance Abby explained, in case we need it later, we can come back for it. Lev didn't care about any of that, he cared that her now even heavier backpack was irritating her wounded shoulder, he could hardly lift her backpack on a good day! It wasn't worth mentioning, he already knew what she would say, "I could give you a ride on my shoulders and not even notice."

Present

It felt like evening and Abby began to feel hungry and thought she could probably do with a wash. Lev checked the progress of his buckets and Abby scoured the unit for laundry and bathroom supplies, finding a small clothes rack, some laundry powder, towels, shampoos and soaps of various scents. She even found some clean bed linen in good condition, folded in the laundry press and brought it out to make a nice bed for them for the next few nights. It would be quite a change not to have to sleep on a backpack, on the damp ground, fully clothed with weapons at hand.

Abby put a couple of pots of water on the hob for Lev, her contribution to his hope for a hot bath, but upon seeing how long it took for them to heat, he gave up on the idea altogether. He took one warm pot to the bathroom and offered the other to Abby who gratefully accepted. Putting their dinner on the hob, she went to the kitchen, stripped completely and washed herself thoroughly, she put on fresh underwear and bindings, a hooded sweatshirt she found in the wardrobe and some sweatpants. It felt so odd to be barefoot, she was constantly shod. It appeared that Lev had found some clothes to wear in one of the bedrooms as well, and they hung their washed clothes out together on the little rack.

Their dinner was heated through, Abby served it and refilled their wine, they chatted a little throughout their meal but it petered out as each became a little more distracted by thoughts of what bedtime might bring. Abby lay down on top of the covers, taking the side furthest from the fire, she watched the storm raging outside and hoped Lev would come to her sooner rather than later. He did come, shyly, and laid his head on her shoulder, she opened her arm to him and he shifted closer. Neither spoke and slowly the tension began to mount between them, each waiting for the other to make a move, each feeling shy, vulnerable.

Abby felt that she had moved to be affectionate with Lev several times throughout the day which he had accepted but not initiated and Lev felt that he had made the move in the early hours of the morning and wondered whether it might now be Abby's 'turn'? It must have occurred to the pair of them around the same moment that they were both laying there, together, cuddled up, freshly washed and waiting. They both turned and in that moment it was on.

They began kissing with an urgency that they had been negotiating and navigating all day, Abby's hands went straight for Lev's face and Lev's hands went straight for Abby's arms. She became hard in an instant and Lev couldn't get the direct touch of Abby's biceps that he wanted, that he had wanted all day. The thought of her arms, of her arms holding herself above him made Lev so wet and weak with desire. He flicked the zip of her sweatshirt and asked, "Can I open this?" "Yeah," Abby replied, resisting the urge to lean back and rip it open, destroying the top with her fingers. Lev fumbled a little, not used to using zippers but he got there, opened the top, he reached for her shoulders and pushed the fabric back so that he could see her arms.

She watched Lev and his eyes never even glanced over her breasts, he is an arms man, she concluded, and a little joke occurred to her about him being opposed to such weapons but liking her guns. "You like my arms?" "Yes. Is that alright?" "Sure," She replied and watched the guy who was normally so spiritual and wholesome practically licking his lusty lips as he watched her muscles and traced them with his fingers. She flexed them for him and his eyes snapped back to hers, sort of glazed over, she smiled in encouragement. He wrapped his arms around her neck and pulled her down kissing her strongly, when he felt fairly pinned under her weight he went back to touching her arms.

They discovered that they were moving against each other and it couldn't be helped, they had been dancing around each other all day, waiting for this moment. Waiting for the moment they were next together, like this, exactly like this. Horizontal, tongues in each other's mouths, moaning, moving, oh god, it was just too good. She was hard and he was wet - what can be said? It's a crazy world. And these two were certainly part of it, both feeling very crazy right now.

Lev began squirming under Abby, he broke off their kiss and when she noticed, she lifted her body to see what he was doing, he was trying to get his clothes off. He looked at her and touched his binding, "Can I leave this on?" "Lev, you can do whatever you want. Whatever makes you feel good." He nodded and then bit his lip, "Can we take these off?" he tugged at her pants. "Yeah," Abby rolled off and pulled them down, she left her underwear on but her erection was so obvious that there wasn't any point. Abby wondered why she could be so accepting of Lev and then rejecting of herself, or why she would assume that Lev would be anything but supportive of her body.

Annoyed at herself, she held her breath and pulled them off, she felt close to tears and that pissed her off even more. Lev brought his body flush against her own and looked into her eyes, he started pumping out pheromones before he started speaking, "You are upset, Abby?" She squeezed her eyes shut and willed the tears away, "Yes," she admitted, "I just want you to like me." "I understand." And that was one of the things that Abby liked the most about Lev, he did understand her. In thoughts and feelings he always seemed to be one step ahead and she thought it was because he was so less complicated and less confused than she was.

He didn't try to make her feel better with loud, repetitious platitudes about how he really liked her body, which just would have sounded like 'shut up and listen' to Abby. He dosed her with his calm scent and he watched her, he listened to her, he cared for her, he understood her and he moved through stuff with her, side by side, that is how he made her feel better. He put his forehead to hers and whispered, "Just breathe, Abby," and she did, she took in his scent and allowed it work its magic, she took the time she needed to even out, the painful lump in her throat dissipated, the tears evaporated and within minutes she opened her eyes to see Lev watching her and waiting for her.

"Thank you," she said and he kissed her gently and they started again, the kissing, Abby touching Lev's face, kissing his neck, Lev touching her arms and pulling her on top of him, the touching, the sighing the moving against each other the moaning. Abby's huge cock was thrusting gently between Lev's legs, along his soaked opening and his clit, it was turning him on and edging him ever closer to orgasm. This activity was like the elephant in the room. Neither of them looked down or reached down, it was as though this very erotic and pleasurable experience was happening in another room and it appeared that neither of them really knew why that was.

If they had to guess, they were both concerned that size was going to be an issue, there was also the issue of gender. Was it an issue? Abby was concerned that the only way Lev could possibly like her cock was if he was gay but then how would the rest of her fit into the equation? The same could be said for her, she thought, how could she like Lev who had a vagina? But she did and she didn't think that made her a lesbian. And if she could like Lev, why couldn't she expect that Lev would like her? God damn it, Abby!

"Abby? Be calm, everything is fine." He began pumping out his calming scent to her again, he could do this all day and all night if necessary, he just paused and gave her some space.

"I can't stop, Lev, I am sorry. I am just panicking."

"I know, I can feel it. You don't like something?"

"No, I like everything. I'm just… I am freaking out that you wont like my dick." There she had said it. Lev didn't take his eyes from Abby's, he secreted more of his scent for her comfort as he reached down between them and touched her, he ran the back of his fingers down her stomach until he came to the base of her thick shaft, he gripped it gently and pulled it softly all the way up.

"This little guy?" he said, smiling at her, she burst into laughter, her upset all but evaporated. Lev hardly ever cracked jokes, not that he didn't have a sense of humour, it was the cultural divide that made joking between them a challenge. But that was funny and she desperately needed the reprieve. It was funny because the fingers of his one hand could hardly get around her the girth of her shaft. He continued to stroke her, to reassure her and she was grateful.

"Better?"

"Very much, thank you, Lev."

"Try to be at ease with yourself, Abby, you waste your precious essence," he touched her heart and kept stroking, a little firmer, a little more confident as he listened to the changes in her breathing and watched her body's responses to his touch.

"I will try," she leaned in to kiss him.

After a couple of minutes Lev indicated the need for a slight change, she lifted her body just an inch or so to give him the room he needed to get both of his hands around her cock. Abby groaned just as Lev got a good rhythm and pace going and she couldn't help but move against him, she started moving her hips to push her cock through his hands. She was surprised she had even lasted this long given it is the first time anyone had touched her cock, but she was getting close.

"Lev, where should I finish?" she asked him, trying her best to maintain the friction they were applying to her dick right now but also to contain herself for as long as possible.

"Where do you normally?"

"I don't, normally."

"Abby, I don't care, whatever makes you happy."

"On your stomach?"

"Yes, give me what you have, Abby," and just hearing him say that ripped her over the edge before she was hardly ready and she ejaculated hot white come all over Lev's tight little abs. About four times she thrust into his hands and spurted on to his skin, she grunted "Oh, god" and slumped onto the mattress, beside Lev's body. Like she had been electrocuted, her body shivered and twitched and she gulped in huge gasps of air, she realised Lev was silent and looked up at him. He had propped himself up on his elbows and looked down at his stomach, his eyes as wide as saucers, "Abby, look, look, it's so much!" Well, Abby knew it was a lot from past experience, but even so, she had never actually come quite this hard before, she dragged herself up to see the sizable puddle.

"Wipe it, Abby, quickly," She jumped up and grabbed the towel she had used earlier and as she wiped him down she realised that he had been repressing a gleeful laugh which would have caused the milky liquid to spill into their bed, making for a wet and sticky sleep time. She was relieved, she lay down beside him again and he turned to her asking, "are you alright, Abby?"

"Yes, Lev, better than alright."

"And we will get better, together and apart, you will see."

Lev was really very sweet, Abby understood him to be saying that they would learn each other's bodies and their own and come to terms with it all, in time. And she thought he was right, they would.

Abby placed a flat hand on Lev's ribs and moved slowly up over his bindings and touched him the way he liked, and leaned in to kiss his cheek, down his jawline, his throat and up his neck and around to his ear. She loved to hear his breathing catch and there were times when she could almost hear him whimper. She leaned her head on her hand and walked her fingers down the middle of his chest, down between his abs, glancing his navel and continuing down, "Lev? Do you want me to touch you?"

He placed his hand over hers and looked into her eyes, they were almost blue he realised, in her post orgasm haze, "Yes, Abby, please touch me the way you did this morning."

"I would love to," She did exactly what she did this morning and she knew it was so because it was precisely what she has done to herself on so many occasions.

Later when they were both almost asleep, it occurred to Abby that Owen would never have coped with Abby's cock. When they finally did have sex, she was not aroused and her clit never extended and he never asked about it. He knew it could, from when she went into her first rut, but he never once, in all that time asked her about it. He had been in love with an idea of her. Maybe that's why she had held out the way she did, for all that time, like a self protecting measure. He made no effort to accept all of her, all of her body and she took that as rejection and held him at arm's length, literally.

"Gah!" Abby rocketed into a squat in one fluid movement, completely disoriented. The ground was not flat or firm, she had no clothes on and her backpack, her weapons weren't where they should be. "Abby?" Lev. She put her hand out to him instinctively still unsure of her surroundings. "Abby, it was a dream," Lev caught at the hand she thrust out to him, he didn't pull or tug or squeeze, he just held her hand and waited for her to catch her breath and get her bearings. He pumped out calming pheromones to help centre her. Abby frequently had bad dreams but her reaction just now was considerable in comparison.

Abby closed her eyes and listened, she could hear nothing beyond the heavy rain battering the windows. Lev was as calm as usual, there was no danger, it had only been a dream. Abby dropped to her knees and shook her head trying to scatter the last unpleasant images from her mind, it was a comfort to have Lev's hand in hers. She breathed in what he was giving her, his scent was so mild, it was oftentimes difficult to detect and although she couldn't always pick it, she knew when it wasn't him. Her heart rate slowed and breathing steadied, she was grateful to him and to have him. "Water?" he offered, "Yeah, please," she nodded and dragged her forearm across her eyes. The fog in her mind was beginning to dissipate.

Lev released her hand, rolled out from the covers, off of the mattress and onto the carpet, he grabbed his undies and pulled them on and passed Abby her canteen. He adjusted his breast bindings as he made his way down the hall to the bathroom. Talking a long swill, she fell back against her pillow and looked out at the rain, with the moon, it was lighter outside than it had been in the afternoon. She watched as Lev built up the fire again and put some water on the hob to heat.

"Whatcha doing Lev?" It was the middle of the night. "I am making tea. Want some?" he replied. "Sure. Did I alarm you?" "Only at first, but you're up now, so I'm up." It was so domestic, watching Lev in his underwear make tea in the middle of the night because she had a nightmare. "You're a good friend." His eyes ficked over to her (confusion?) and flicked back again (defensive?), it was so quick, if she hadn't been looking right at him she would have missed it. She understood him immediately, "Lover? Boyfriend? Partner? Which do you prefer?" He continued with his task and finally shrugged.

Abby went to him, wrapped her arms around him from behind so he could keep working, "Lev? Don't pretend you would not prefer something to 'friend'. You nearly shot real bullets at me, with that look over your shoulder." She kissed the back of his neck and spread her fingers out over his abs, "This is an easy one, Lev." "Mate?" he said, knowing he was going to say it now or after she nagged him to the point of death. "There you go, mate," she stuck her pinky in the water to test its heat, "Five more minutes, want to make out?"

He wasn't entirely sure what making out entailed but the look on her face suggested something, he turned in her arms and put his hands around her neck, she fell back onto the mattress, taking him with her. By the time the water had boiled she had demonstrated some of the more obvious making out concepts. As Lev passed Abby her mug, it suddenly occurred to her what Lev might have meant earlier, "Lev, do you mean you want us to be mates? You want us to mark each other?" He didn't even look up, "Yes," it was as though he knew she had earlier misunderstood him and had been waiting for her to catch up. So typical, of both of them!

Abby thought about it. They would exchange bite marks and become mated for life. Which was fine, but Abby was wondering about sex. She always thought that the mating mark was part of the sexual connection, penetration, and she didn't think that was going to happen between her and Lev, she simply was not going to fit. But non alpha lesbian couples who didn't have access to dicks could be mated to one another for life, so that means she and Lev could. She realised her thinking gave way to silence which could be misconstrued as disinterest or rejection so she quickly said "Yes, Lev, absolutely. I was just thinking about practicalities, that's all."

"What practicalities?" Lev asked, relieved she had finally said yes, but he did wonder what took her so long.

"The mating marks first, I thought they happened simultaneously with penetration, but it doesn't matter." she tried to explain but tailed off in the hope that the topic would pass off into nowheresville. Lev was always tipped off by Abby's use of useless words and phrases, in this case it was the 'thats all' and 'it doesn't matter'. "We can try it," he said.

"Really?"

"Why not?"

"Well I thought you wouldn't like it and also I think size is going to be a problem," said Abby looking in amazement at Lev, she was caught that he would consider trying it.

"Yes, size might be an issue, but we can try. Also I am very happy that you consent to marking me," and he did look happy.

Abby felt happy, "I am very happy too, Lev. I am glad you asked me. When do you want to do it?"

"Before we leave this apartment, after the rain?"

"Perfect"

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoy this chapter


End file.
